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Nationwide, Italy's fertility rate has been so low for so long —
under 1.5 since 1984 — that the country offers an especially good glimpse into
the dimensions and dynamics of the trend.
For example, Italy now has the world's oldest population. The percentage of people 60 or older is 25, compared with 16 percent in the United States, according to the population division of the United Nations. The division's experts project that by 2050, if current trends hold, 42 percent of Italy's population will be 60 or older. In Italy, as in other West European countries, the low fertility rate is interwoven with an array of other issues — immigration, for one. While many people and many politicians in Europe would like to clamp down on the rising tide of new arrivals over the last decade, they may be forced to accept it, simply to fill jobs and maintain levels of productivity. Europe stands out as the continent with the lowest fertility rates. The numbers are now starkest in East European countries like Bulgaria, Latvia and Ukraine, each of which had a rate of 1.1 in 2001, according to the World Health Organization. (Its figures sometimes differ slightly from those of individual countries, but provide a yardstick.) |
Persistent Drop in Fertility Reshapes Europe's Future.url
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